Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken (Copycat)

Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken is spicy, sweet, crispy & crunchy, this dish is everything you could hope for and more in a copycat Chinese food recipe!

Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken is straight from the restaurant’s menu, this is a really spicy Mandarin-Style chicken dish with scallions and roasted cashews. It is crispy while being coated in this amazing sauce thanks to the light texture of the tempura style batter and the rice flour.

One of the most popular items on their menu, this recipe is authentically from the Cheesecake Factory, shared with a local news channel.

Ok, I know what you are thinking…wow this recipe is full of a ton of ingredients and looks like it takes forever. It is true, there are more steps than normal, definitely more ingredients than I normally use and the set-up does require a number of bowls.

Yes, this dish is officially high maintenance. But then you see this… at the end of all that work and you forget about all the steps and all the ingredients and all the dirty dished.

OR, you’ve actually been to the Cheesecake Factory and enjoyed this dish, so you know that while it may take a while to make, you would make it even if it took twice as long. It is just. THAT. GOOD.

The chicken in this Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken recipe has a few steps but it reads harder than it actually is to cook it!

Tools Used in the making of this Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken recipe:Rice Flour: To make this dish authentically I use rice flour. I have also made it using cornstarch and flour in a 1:1 ratio in the past and the flavor is a bit different but in a pinch go for it!Hoisin Sauce: This is like Asian BBQ Sauce, a ton of flavor and easy to use.Sherry Wine: A sweet wine, if you can’t source this or don’t have time to order online you can swap white wine since the sauce already has sugar in it.Low Sodium Soy Sauce – I find regular soy sauce much too salty, remember you can always add salt but you can’t subtract it. Starting with low sodium allows you to alter to your tastes if necessary.

Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken

Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Cashew Chicken is spicy, sweet, crispy & crunchy, this dish is everything you could hope for and more in a chicken dish. Plus this recipe is straight from the Cheesecake Factory!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American Fusion

Prep Time30minutes

Cook Time20minutes

Total Time50minutes

Servings6servings

AuthorSabrina

Ingredients

1/3cupcanola or vegetable oil

1 1/2poundschicken breastcut into bite size chunks

Seasoned Rice Flour(ingredients below)

Rice Flour Batter(ingredients below)

Spicy Soy-Sherry Sauce(ingredients below)

8ouncesCashews

6green onionscut into 1/4? pieces

SEASONED RICE FLOUR

3/4cupRice Flour

1/4teaspoonKosher Salt

1/8teaspoonGround Black Pepper

1/8teaspoonPaprika

1/8teaspoonBaking Powder

RICE FLOUR BATTER

1 1/2cupsRice Flour

1/4cupAll-Purpose Flour

1/4teaspoonKosher Salt

1/4teaspoonGround Black Pepper

1 1/2cupsIce Water

SPICY SOY-SHERRY SAUCE

1cupHoisin Sauce*

1/4cupSoy Sauce*

1/4cupSherry Wine

2tablespoonsRed Wine Vinegar

1tablespoonSriracha sauce

1/4cupGranulated Sugar

2ouncesFresh Garlicminced

1/4teaspoonCrushed Red Chili Flakes

Instructions

TO MAKE SEASONED RICE FLOUR

Mix the ingredients into a bowl together.

TO MAKE THE BATTER

Combine all the ingredients together, in a bowl over ice. Keep COLD.

TO MAKE THE SAUCE

Combine the sauce ingredients together and mix well.

TO COOK THE DISH

Toss the chicken with the seasoned flour.

Put the batter into a large bowl with the chicken.

Carefully combine the two until well coated.

Heat the canola oil in a large pan or wok on medium high.

Add the chicken pieces to the pan, and cook 3 minutes on each side until browned and crispy.

Break apart any pieces that stay stuck together.

Add the sauce and cashews into the pan. Add in the chicken and green onions.

Toss all the ingredients together until well coated.

Let cook for 30 seconds to a minute for the sauce to thicken.

Garnish with sesame seeds, parsley and crushed cashews.

Recipe Notes

Most of the ingredients in this recipe are easy enough to find. If you have trouble finding rice flour, use cake or pastry flour. In a pinch you can even substitute half all purpose flour and half cornstarch.Here are the pictures from when this was originally posted on June 17, 2015

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Almonds would be great! Peanuts too! OR, just leave them out. The cashews aren’t part of the sauce, they just provide a bit of crunch 🙂 I know it sounds like they are a huge part of the dish, but the first 30 or so times I ordered this I would say “Spicy Cashew Chicken with no cashews” haha. It took me a while to enjoy nuts on savory meals.

I’ve never had the cashew chicken at the Cheesecake Factory, so I don’t have a comparison. But this looks absolutely incredible! I would love to mix it up and serve something other than orange chicken when my family wants a yummy Asian inspired dish.

You know, since figuring this dish out (and the cornmeal cakes ….ooh now I have to make those!!), I haven’t been back, except for maybe 2 or 3 times with friends who wanted to go. Especially when going out means babysitter!

The reason restaurants won’t go out of business is because of people like me – now that I see how complex it is to make at home…. I won’t scoff at the cost on the menu next time I’m there haha! Maybe I can show this to my husband and see if he will make it for me ; )

You know, I used to hate to make it at home because it was a total chore. I wised up though! I made the sauce x6 and froze it in portions. So now I just dust with rice flour, dip in batter and cook. Then at the end I microwave the sauce and pour it on to combine with the chicken. Now, if it weren’t one of my favorite foods, I may not make it as often. But I swear it is requested at least once a week.

I haven’t done the calculation, but a super easy way to cut out most of the fat is to dredge the chicken in seasoned cornstarch instead of the batter. Then pan fry in just a couple of tablespoons of oil. Most of the fat and calories come from frying up the chicken in the batter. I do something similar in my Orange Peel Chicken dish and it is still crispy and delicious. I made it this way for the cashew chicken to stay true to the recipe the restaurant shared.

Made just the sauce today and its great. A couple tips, if you want the sauce to be thick and syrupy like I do then add a couple tablespoons of cornstarch to the mixture. Once it boils it will thicken up tremendously. Also for anyone struggling with what 2oz of minced garlic is I believe its 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup, but I didnt measure I just minced up 3 large cloves. It was probably 1 1/2-2 tablespoons.

Ooh good tips! I am one of those who keeps a huge jar of minced garlic in my fridge. I put 5-6 heads of garlic in the food processor at once since I go through it so often. Careful on the cornstarch, don’t forget since your chicken is breaded (I used cornstarch here) when it goes back into the sauce to coat, it will also help thicken up the sauce 🙂 So glad you liked the sauce!

I’m super excited to make this today for my husband’s birthday. Spicy cashew chicken at cheesecake factory is his favorite meal. I just have one question; after you fry the chicken, do you drain the oil from the pan or is there so little left that you just leave it? Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I will get back to you after I prepare it but I expect it to be amazing!

The one confusing part… Break apart any pieces that stay stuck together. Add the sauce and cashews into the pan. Add in the chicken and green onions.

It never says to remove the chicken from the pan. Am I supposed to use another pan for the sauce and cashews, and then transfer the chicken to it? Seems like I could just add the sauce and cashews into the pan with the chicken already in it.

I pinned this a couple of weeks ago. Finally made it tonight. Absolutely delicious! I’m hooked. Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe. So worth the effort, and really not that labor intensive after all.

I just made this dish came out well. I roasted my cashews in the oven. The other key thing I did was reduce the sauce with the cashews before adding the fried chicken parts, so the chicken stayed very crispy. It was a success big with my family. I used a wok too.

WoW! I never tried putting cashew on the chicken, but I think it is so delicious. Cashew has a very distinctive taste so let’s make a try. I’ll pin it on my Pinterest account so I won’t miss the photo. Thanks for sharing.

I tried making this tonight. I need help with the batter please. My batter was super thick and sticky, I even put water and ice in the fridge before making it to keep it very cold. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my favorite recipe from Cheesecake Factory and I am wanting to nail it at home.

This batter is definitely a little bit harder than the usual so don’t feel bad at all with the first attempt. The trick to it is making sure that your egg whites are beaten until they’re really frothy otherwise it’ll be too heavy. Hope you found this helpful!